Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Happy Birthday to President Barack Obama, who turned 48 years young today.

The LeRoy Neiman painting of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy is one I had over my fireplace for years. I loved picking out all the politicians in it, from Bobby Kennedy and Ted Kennedy (and Ethel) to Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird and Mayor Robert Wagner. Check it out below:

(It came with a videocasette of Neieman describing the painting and pointing out who was who. It's one of the few paintings I'm sorry I sold.)

Oh, we progressives hate the hypocrisy of the right-wing Republicans, all right. . .

But the sight of a church-going Catholic having his mistress serenade him, in the presence of his wife and his entire political coalition, while dressed in a see-through outfit, that doesn't bother us at all.